Come Back To Me
by RogueMetamorph
Summary: A large green hand appearing through the fog to press against the fractured glass, the grunts growing louder before the hand suddenly disappeared. Georgia stumbled to her feet to watch as the walls of the catwalk suddenly flew outwards, revealing a hulking green man twice the size of any normal human, roaring angrily. "Bruce," ... Part of my Avengers series. OC/Bruce Banner.


**Come Back To Me**

* * *

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own **_**The Incredible Hulk**_** (the movie, characters, dialogue, related TV shows, cartoons, comic books or etc.). I also don't own any other book, movie, song or character I may have mentioned along the way. I just so happened to use it for non-profitable fun in my spare time. **

**Author's Note:**** Be aware that I'm trying to fuse the movie **_**The Incredible Hulk**_** and **_**The Avengers **_**together so not everything is going to be the same in this One-Shot, including what Bruce looks like. I'm also sorry to all Betty and Bruce shippers. Don't get me wrong, I love her too but for the sake of my fan fiction, she isn't going to be around****… ****ALSO this is going to be a part of a very long series. I plan on doing what Marvel did to the movies and have then all interconnected (which means were will be more Georgia and Bruce, more of Abigail and Tony, more with Schona and Loki, and maybe even one with Clint and an OC...). ENJOY!**

* * *

**Chapter 1 – Bruce**

* * *

Georgia Louis had been friends with Bruce Banner since they'd gone to college together. He'd always been a shy guy except when it came to what he knew; science. He was a genius when it came to anything remotely scientific which was how they first met. They took a lot of the same science courses. For the longest time Georgia had been used to being the best back in her small home town, had been used to being the best even in Washington state. However, as soon as she'd met Bruce she'd been put in her place, her pride put in check.

She respected him for that and for not being prideful himself in the things he did. He was always soft spoken and careful, never letting his pride get ahead of his science. It was also one of the reason she'd come to like him so much. He was handsome, he was sweet, he was kind. She honestly liked him but she'd never been his first choice.

After college they'd both been hired into the military to begin working on a job that had to do with creating a serum. They were tasked with trying to create it through the left over notes of a German scientist who'd been working on the experiment over sixty years earlier.

That was went Bruce met Betty Ross. She was the beautiful daughter of General Ross, their military supervisor. Georgia knew that the general had never liked Bruce much but it had never stopped Bruce and Betty from dating each other and falling in love. Georgia had been crushed by the realization but tried not to let it show, just did her job and remained his friend.

Then the day came for the experiment that changed all of their lives.

Admittedly she couldn't remember all of it. She could remember a few moments throughout the day, sometimes flashes came to her, other times it was nightmares full of violence and fear. But the only the she could remember was watching as what had once been Bruce turning into a hulking green thing that destroyed the entire laboratory. She ended up being pinned beneath a huge beam that had saved her from most of the damage.

When she woke up the next day she'd been alone. She'd received several broken ribs, a punctured lung and broken her leg, most of which the doctors said wouldn't be much trouble to heal. However, she learned that Bruce had gone missing and that Betty had died in the… whatever it had been.

It took her five minutes to steal all of the data on their gamma research. It took a week for her resignation to go through. It took a little over three months to heal from her injuries. It took her a year before she found another job. It took a year and a half before she started dating. It took three and a half before she got married. He was a sweet guy who she thought she'd loved but after a year they realize it just wasn't working. They were the exactly the same in all of the wrong ways and didn't love each other. They got divorced and they both moved on from each other.

She didn't see Bruce again for five years.

Georgia walked into Stanley's little restaurant starving to death. It was yet another late night that she'd accidently stayed passed what was the typical time to eat dinner. She was fine to make dinner herself or order out but tonight she had a particular craving for his food. She and Bruce had gone there for lunches when they went to Harvard together. It had been their hang out and they'd become good friends with the owner.

He was kind to her about coming in after hours as long as it wasn't too late. He let her buy whatever leftovers he had lying around in his kitchen. Regardless of whatever they are, they were always amazing.

"We're pretty well closed here, folks!"

"Stan!" Georgia exclaimed sadly, smiling at him as he came out of the kitchen, wiping his hands off on his apron. "Come on! It's Friday night. All I want is the leftovers at the bottom of the pan,"

Stan seemed shocked to see her, looking like an animal ready to bolt. She didn't understand the expression. He'd never refused her before unless it was for good reason but now he just looked afraid of her. However, before she could think any more on it, he smiled at her and waved her off.

"Sorry kid. All I've got left now is Marinara sauce,"

Georgia frowned at him, pushing out her bottom lip. "Come on… can I at least have a glass of your lemonade before I go home… to my empty house… alone… starving… with nothing to eat nearly as good as your food,"

Stan glanced towards the kitchen before he sighed at her. "Alright, alright,"

Georgia couldn't help but chuckle. He couldn't say no to her.

He'd just handed her the drink when she heard the kitchen door open. She set down her drink and turned towards the noise, her eyes stopping on the figure peeking out of the door. It might have been five years but she could have recognized him even if he hadn't changed at all. And he hadn't changed. He still had the neat dark hair, the small brown eyes, the wide shoulders that hunched with the weight of the life he carried. It was Bruce… and before she could say anything, he disappeared. He took off back into the kitchen, letting the doors swing shut behind him. But she wasn't about to let him get away this time. Even with Stan yelling after her, she crashed through the kitchen doors and out the back, entering the alleyway. She looked both ways and saw nothing. She froze in place, trying to calm her breath enough to try to listen.

"_Bruce?_"

She couldn't hear anything except the rain and her own breathing.

"_Bruce?!_"

No one answered back…

But she'd seen him.

Georgia walked back into the restaurant with a purpose, her eyes meeting Stan's even before she reached the counter.

"Georgia-"

"Just tell me if I saw what I think I saw,"

"I don't know what to say,"

"Please," she begged. She had to know. "Just tell me the truth,"

He frowned looking from the kitchen back to her. "… Yes,"

Georgia was instantly out the door, getting into her car and driving after him. She didn't know where he was going, had no idea where to try to look for him, knew that there was a very low chance that she was going to find him. All she knew was she needed to. She needed to find him. She kept driving, scanning the road side desperately, trying to find someone walking around in the middle of a rainstorm.

Only the grace of all that was otherworldly allowed her to find him.

She found him along an old highway, walking over a bridge out of the city. He was soaked to the bone, his baggy clothes hanging around him but she knew it was him. She stopped the car and watched as he turned to face her, his face half hidden in the shadow of the night. She got out and approached him, only the rain hiding the fact that she was on the verge of tears.

"Bruce?"

He stepped towards her, his face becoming visible as the lights shined down. For the first time in five years was she truly seeing his face. It wasn't his face seen through a dream, it wasn't the memory of his face, it wasn't a glimpse. Even through the rain she could see him staring at her as if he was just as shocked at seeing her as she was at seeing him.

God, she had missed him.

She was running at him, clasping him in her arms, burying her face in his neck. She couldn't let him go. She didn't want to let him go. She'd been wondering what had happened to him all these years, had been worrying about him and now she finally had him in her arms. She didn't want him out of her sight ever again or else he'd disappear like a phantom in the night.

"Don't go," she found herself gasping at him. "Don't go. Please, don't go,"

He hushed her, pressing his face into her wet hair. He hushed her but didn't pull away, just continued holding her as she told him not to go, not to leave her. He pulled her close, his arms squeezing her almost painfully. She didn't mind one bit.

"Come with me," she begged, pulling away to look him in the eye. "Please, come with me,"

After a moment he finally consented, nodding his head before pulling her toward him again, touching his lips to her shoulder.

She drove him home, him lying back in the seat beside her to not be seen by prying eyes. It made sense to her as it had the day that Bruce had gone missing. It had made sense since the general had pulled all the data and had told her to contact him if she ever came in contact with Bruce again. Something was very wrong and Bruce needed to stay hidden.

He also needed the data she'd saved.

"I got in there before they carted it all away," she explained to him as she handed him the USB drive. It had made its home in the secret compartment in her jewelry box, just below the pillow that held all of her unworn rings. "I hoped that it might tell us something someday,"

Bruce went from staring at it to staring at her to staring at the drive again as if both were the most shocking and wonderful things he'd seen in his life. However, the look faded from his face as he looked up at her again. "Does the general know that you have this?"

"No," she told him with absolute conclusiveness. "It's been five years, Bruce. If he'd known he would have taken it and thrown me in jail by now,"

"You have to be sure,"

"I'm sure. I haven't talked to him in a couple of years,"

Bruce sighed, leaning back against the couch in relief.

"I can't let you get in trouble for me," Bruce told her slowly, not looking at her. "I can't let him find me. He told me what he wanted to do. He wants it out of me. He wants to dissect it so he can replicate it. He wants to make it a weapon,"

Georgia stared at him. "He wants the thing that happened to you… that killed his own daughter…? What? Does he think he can control it?"

Bruce sighed, closing his eyes. "I don't know. All I know is that I can't let him get it. Now, with the data, maybe I can cure myself,"

"Can I help?"

"No!" Bruce exclaimed, his eyes flying open and looking straight at her. "No. I can't let you get involved, Georgia. Then the general would be after you too… I might even hurt you,"

Georgia frowned, memories of a hulking figure looming over Betty's body coming to mind. She wasn't sure exactly what it had been but she knew that it was Bruce… she knew that it was dangerous if he became it.

"Alright," Georgia finally breathed, placing a hand over his clasped ones. "Alright,"

She fed him as well as she could with the food she hand in her fridge. She made him omelets and steak which he devoured like a starving man. She watched him as she ate, happy to have him back but wondering how much he'd changed since the last time she'd seen him. What had going into hiding done to the sweet docile Bruce Banner she'd once known?

"Thank you for this," he told her as he followed her to the kitchen with his completely empty plate in hand.

"Don't mention it," she smiled, putting her plate in the sink with his to rinse. "I've missed you, Bruce. For the past five years I've wondered what happened to you, tried to imagine where you were…" She stopped herself, looking up into his eyes. "Where did you go when you left?"

He shrugged. "Anywhere really,"

"How exotic," Georgia joked.

"I went to mostly anyplace that had work, anyplace where I didn't need a name. I went to places that I thought might help me…"

"It's been a long time, Bruce,"

"I always meant to return one I was cured," he promised her. "But I- I couldn't,"

They fell into silence for a long time, moving back towards the living room together until Bruce finally spoke, spotting a few pictures sprinkled around the house.

"How's your mom?"

Georgia couldn't help but smile as she looked at the picture of herself as a five year old and her mom in her thirties beside her. It was one of her favorite pictures. "Better than ever. She's living up in New York now and thoroughly enjoying it. She'd trying to convince me to move there with her. After dad died a few years back and with my brother living it up in Hawaii with his kids, I figure she's lonely,"

"Then why don't you?"

Georgia shrugged. "I've lived here for so long that it's become home. I don't have a reason to leave it until I'm finished here,"

Bruce seemed to except this as an answer and continued to let his eyes rove until they found a picture of Georgia laughing with a beefy man in swim trunks. "I heard you were married,"

"Where'd you hear that?" she asked.

"Stan,"

"Hmm," Georgia nodded, looking at the same picture he'd been looking at. "I _was_ married. For about a year I called him 'hun' and 'hubbie' but it didn't work out. We never really loved each other,"

"I'm sorry,"

Georgia rolled her eyes. "Don't say sorry for someone getting divorced. It was good for him and I to get divorced. We didn't belong with each other,"

Bruce snorted at her, a smile tugging at his lips. "Sorry for being sorry,"

His eyes lingered on that picture though, tears building up in the corner of his eyes until they finally fell down his cheeks. Georgia stepped towards him, touching his arm as a sob shook his body and his head dropped. She reached for him but he recoiled, stepping away from her until his back hit the wall behind him. Once there, he slid down until his knees were drawn up against his body, sobs wracking his body, his hands covering his face.

Georgia followed him, kneeling in front of him, her hands on his knees.

"I'm so sorry," he choked out desperately. "I killed-I killed… I killed her… I-I-I killed her,"

Suddenly Georgia understood. He'd been carrying the guilt of Betty's death for five years and it was now, on her living room floor, that he was finally letting it out.

Georgia hushed him, petting his hair as he sobbed into his knees. "Bruce. It wasn't your fault. It wasn't your fault,"

"I killed her,"

"No, you didn't," she breathed, leaning down towards him. "It wasn't you, Bruce. She was crushed by debris… it wasn't you,"

"I killed her,"

Georgia sighed, scooting around him until she was sitting beside him, wrapping an arm around him as she kissed the top of his head. "No one blames you, Bruce. It wasn't your fault. Don't blame yourself. It wasn't you,"

After Bruce had calmed down enough, Georgia put him in the spare bedroom for the night, giving him clothes that she still had from her previous marriage to wear for the night.


End file.
